The Grief of Regret for Having Taken Life for Granted

GRIEF is the sting of regret multiplied under microscope strength for that which is gone and can never come back.  Loss is about that day that was always coming; a dark day that’s arrived.

Here is a vision I want to share with you: my parents, who are both about 70, babysat for us recently, so my wife and I could go out on a date.  We regularly get them to babysit so we can enjoy the basketball or a meal or a ministry activity together.  But on this most recent occasion, God gave me a vision.  As they reversed out of our driveway, I imagined a day that this could no longer be; one or both of my parents deceased.  I was instantly sorrowful.  But it made me think.  Such a painful vision inspired a motive to act before it’s too late.  I’m glad I get these types of wisdom visions regularly.

This is an article about taking far too much for granted, as we inevitably will.  We’re always tempted too curiously on endeavours most fleeting though alluring.  We always expect we’ll have far more time, and, of course, we don’t have anything like the sort of time we pretend we have.  Our time goes too quickly, or at least that’s what the elderly consistently say.

Here’s a little list of regrets produced out of a taking of things for granted:

It’s the day before cancer struck, when we chose to do something ‘more important’ than spend time with that family member whose life is now imminently threatened.

It’s the first day of school or a job a loved one has started, that we missed; of course, there’ll be further opportunities to take that will make up for this missed opportunity, won’t there?

It’s the nudge of God’s Holy Spirit compelling you to talk with someone important to us; a nudge that keeps persisting until it doesn’t anymore, and then there’s the instant sense of regret for having not acted.

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A day is coming to all our lives when we’ll regret not having made more of a particular relationship; we took our parents too much for granted; our kids grew up, and flew the coup, and long lost is the memory that we wanted the hard work of parenting to be over with.

Decide now.  Make a decision about the people in your life that matter.  Decide never to compromise on them and that potentially important moment in their and your life.  Decide that regrets are not worth that pain, as far as it depends on you.

Yes, that day is coming when, tinged with regret, grief will cause you to look back with sorrow at what you could have done differently.

This isn’t sad.  It’s a reality of reflection to cause you to do now what could be regretted later if it’s not done whilst you have the opportunity.

Do it today.  Don’t put it off.

© 2016 Steve Wickham.